Let’s turn back the tide of body dissatisfaction and empower our young people to live healthy, confident lives
The Challenge
Today’s adolescents – both girls and boys – face constant connection via social media to each other, to celebrities, to the fashion industry, and to the weight-loss industry. This presents a very real challenge to developing and maintaining a healthy self-image. Body dissatisfaction is associated with dieting, self-harm, binge drinking, depression, reduced participation in class and sport, poorer school performance and unsafe sexual practices. Managing and improving self-image is vital to overall good health.
The Solution
My seminars address the problems your students face. I expose the problems with “dieting”. I bring students into an understanding of the complex interrelation between body image, self care and food choice. My seminars are fun, interactive, deeply practical, accurate and relevant. They are designed to empower teens to take positive steps to protect themselves and their peers from the toxic environment in which they live. My goal is to work with you to create a body-positive, food-positive school, where healthy attitudes and actions concerning bodies and food flourish.
What your students will learn:
My seminars and workshops cover 3 core themes. (Scroll down to see links to the Stage 4 and 5 curriculum)
From Pressure to Power – Navigating Harmful Body Ideals
- What is causing the high rates of body dissatisfaction?
- Why it matters.
- Practical strategies for managing and improving body image
From Confusion to Confidence – Eating Well in a Food Confused Culture
- How did food and eating get so confusing?
- The difference between eating for wellbeing and eating to change your body.
- Navigating online diet advice.
80 minute Seminars $1200 plus GST for 0-100 students plus $5 per head for additional student.
Multi booking discounts apply.
Linked Parent seminars also available
From Pressure to Power : Nurturing Positive Body Image In Our Children
From Confusion to Confidence : Helping Our Children Eat Well In A Food Confused Culture
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Teenage girls reporting they are 'dieting', and want to be 'thinner'
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Number of females who list 'body image' as their number one area of personal concern
%
Girls reported a healthier approach to food and eating after attending Meg's seminar
Beyond Fad Diets and 'Perfect' Bodies
Today’s teenagers are particularly vulnerable to undertaking unhealthy behaviours in an effort to achieve the ‘perfect body’.
We need to be proactive in inoculating our teenagers against the false, toxic images of perfection all around them.A variety of options to suit your school
Seminars for stages 4-6
- These interactive talks are suitable for large groups including students across different school years.
- With a combination of whole group and small group activities these seminars are practical, enjoyable and help student put what they learn into actionable goals.
- Choose from a body image focussed or nutrition focussed seminar.
New Stage 3 workshop
- The pre-teen years are a critical time when body image anxieties spike and it’s a high risk time for the development of disordered eating, eating disorders and poor body image. The ‘All Bodies are Good Bodies’ workshop for Stage 3 is designed to complement the PDHPE curriculum, and address body image concerns from an early age.
Parent education seminar
- Family members are shown to be extremely powerful in building up or tearing down self-image. Talking to children and adolescents about weight can be difficult. Even well-intentioned comments about dieting, weight or food intake can have a profound negative impact. This workshop equips parents with the tools for creating healthy conversations about health and weight.
Staff professional development
- Pastoral care on matters of health, weight and body image is delicate, difficult, but also extremely important. I empower teachers to create a body-positive, food-positive culture within your school. This seminar provides evidence-backed, practical strategies on how best to talk with teenagers about health and food in a way that promotes positive body image and healthy choices.
Students, teachers, school-leaders and psychologists love this seminar series
Meg’s workshop was engaging and informative. Students left with practical tools to combat negative self-talk, relevant advice for creating a culture of positive body-talk, and a strong foundation of how to develop and maintain a positive personal body image.
It was everything that my 15 year old self needed to hear.
Meg spoke to our co-ed cohorts from Years 5-8. Her content was relevant and differentiated towards the varying year levels. Meg was able to outline the ways our young people are affected by ‘body image’ messaging from external influences such as social media, advertising and our own family and peer expectations. Her workshop included thought provoking activities and practical tips for students to implement to accommodate for their changing bodies. Meg is engaging and adaptable, and we greatly value her expertise and understanding of these important issues.
Investigate Curriculum Links
PDHPE Stage 4 Outcomes
Self and Relationships
- 4.1: A student describes and analyses the influences on a sense of self
Individual and Community Health
- 4.6: A student describes the nature of health and analyses how health issues may impact on young people
- 4.8: A student describes how to access and assess health information, products and services
Lifelong Physical Activity
- 4.9: A student describes the benefits of a balanced lifestyle and participation in physical activity
PDHPE Stage 5 Outcomes
Self and Relationships
- 5.1: A student analyses how they can support their own and others’ sense of self
Individual and Community Health
- 5.6: A student analyses attitudes, behaviours and consequences related to health issues affecting young people
- 5.8: A student critically analyses health information, products and services to promote health
Lifelong Physical Activity
- 4.9: A student describes the benefits of a balanced lifestyle and participation in physical activity
PDHPE Life Skills Outcomes
Objective 3:
Students will take actions to protect, promote and restore individual and community health
- A student makes healthy nutritional choices (LS.12)
- A student demonstrates appropriate behaviours associated with eating and drinking (LS.13)
English Stages 4 and 5
Outcome 2:
A student effectively uses a widening range of processes, skills, strategies and knowledge for responding to and composing texts in different media and technologies
- recognise the different processes required for responding and composing in a range of forms and media
- recognise and practise responsible and ethical digital communication
- use comprehension strategies to interpret and evaluate texts by reflecting on the validity of content and the credibility of sources, including finding evidence in the text for the author’s point of view
Outcome 7:
A student demonstrates understanding of how texts can express aspects of their broadening world and their relationships within it
- compare and contrast texts that present alternative views of their own world
- analyse how combinations of words, sound and images can create particular perspectives of the same event or issue
- understand that people’s evaluations of texts are influenced by their value systems, the context and the purpose and mode of communication
- evaluate the social, moral and ethical positions represented in texts
Outcome 8:
A student questions, challenges and evaluates cultural assumptions in texts and their effects on meaning
- identify and analyse implicit or explicit values, beliefs and assumptions in texts and how these are influenced by purposes and likely audiences
- analyse how the construction and interpretation of texts, including media texts, can be influenced by cultural perspectives and other texts